SBU CI officers jointly with the SBU Main Investigative Department exposed an employee of a strategic enterprise of the Ministry of Defense on committing the espionage activities in favor of the aggressor country.

The law enforcers established that the native of the Russian Federation, the Colonel of Reserve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, while staying at the residence of his close relatives in Russia, was recruited by a staff member of the Russian Military Intelligence Service in July 2017.

For a monetary reward, the former Ukrainian serviceman collected data for subsequent transfer of the classified defence information to the Russian supervisors. The Russian special services, in particular, were interested in information on the state defense orders and the development of the latest aviation systems for detecting the air drones used in the ATO still running in the West of Ukraine.

Moreover, fulfilling the task of the representative of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, the agent tried to purchase the Ukraine-produced air drone for further transferring to the aggressor country aimed at conducting the air reconnaissance.

The SBU operatives documented that the spy communicated with the “supervisors” during trips to Russia and using e-mail.

After performing the “tasks”, the offender planned to leave the aggressor country and to become a citizen of Russia. We also established that the Ukrainian citizen received the residence permit in Russia and re-registered, with assistance of the Russian intelligence officer, his retirement pay to receive it in Russia.

The SBU officers detained the spy at his Kyiv workplace.

During searches in the offender’s workplaces and residence, the law enforcers seized the materials confirming his illegal activities.

The detainee was served notices of suspicion in committing the crime, receiving custody as a measure of restraint. The investigative actions in the framework of the criminal proceeding initiated under Part 1 Article 111 (state treason) are under way.

The operation was conducted under the procedural supervision of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office.